


Spring Training.

by jenna_thorn



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-07
Updated: 2008-05-07
Packaged: 2017-10-05 10:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenna_thorn/pseuds/jenna_thorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yet another Ancient device</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spring Training.

Radek rubbed his eyes. Something in the air, perhaps a weather system, he'd check with the meteorologists. He felt hungry and rifled the desk for leftover powerbars before reminding himself that he'd eaten less than two hours before and there was no reason to be hungry and warm and irritable with the slow-motion courtship behavior at the other end of the lab.

He bent back to his work, resolutely ignoring the breeze from the window, the murmur of Bell's voice, the tapping of keys, the return chuckle from Dinh, the brush of plastic against his own fingertips. He glanced up again and Dinh had abandoned any pretense at work; his hands were in Bell's coat pockets as she moved her mouse randomly across her desk.

"Go!" he shouted, making both of them jump, startling himself. "Just, go. Go very far away, since I do not want to watch you have sex and I do not want to join in." And as he said the words, he realized that was it, that was what the itch across his skin was. He'd been in Atlantis for years, involuntary celibacy brought on by close quarters and a desperate need for privacy reinforced by the American military's policies, but clearly spring was in the air, and with it, all things spring-like.

Major Lorne stepped through the door before it could close behind Dinh. Radek turned again to his keyboard, shaking his head and pushing his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose. "She's been chasing him for months, and today's the day he chooses to stop running and start pursuing? I'll be through in a moment."

"No hurry," Lorne responded. "I've got all day."

"I do appreciate your working with me," Radek said as he set the compile subroutine to backup, "I am beginner, yes, with much to learn."

"Hey," Lorne smiled again, friendly and warm, "you have the discipline; you just trained in another field. Atlantis is a place for new beginnings and sharing skills."

"Almost sharing too much. Were they undressing in the hall?" Radek smiled as he closed the laptop and leaned over the table to initiate the backup without walking around the diving counter.

"I heard the botany lab door open." Lorne drifted closer, staring out the window.

"Požití musí být vzadu hořké. I had no intention of watching them writhe in front of me."

"Good, I'd rather do it than watch," Lorne growled into Radek's ear. Radek stiffened, straightening up only to meet Lorne's solid chest, much too close behind him.

"I am sorry, what?"

Lorne's voice was low, his breath warm against Radek's earlobe. "You wanna writhe? We were going to get sweaty anyway." Radek braced himself on the counter and considered his options as Lorne nuzzled his hairline. He could push back, use what Lorne had been teaching him in private sessions, kick backward and outward at the knee, throw an elbow into the throat, try for the eyes. Weapons to hand were -- a stylus, sharper and stronger than his own pen, and the laptop, valuable, yes, but heavy. Lorne nudged the earpiece of his glasses and his world went askew. Lorne slid his fingers between Radek's, a caress more than a threat, though immobilizing in its own way.

"You are not yourself, Major," Radek began. Lorne slid his fingers under Radek's untucked shirt. The soft touch tickled the hair across his stomach and he huffed out a breath that was not laughter, then turned in the circle of Lorne's embrace. "Major ..."

"Doctor ..." Lorne leaned in and Radek met him, lip to lip, tongue to tongue, skin to skin. Lorne whined and let go of Radek's hips to scrabble at the fastening of his own uniform, clumsy in his haste. He bent his head to see the button that had him stymied and over Lorne's shoulder, Radek noticed the baleful blue pulsing of the machine he'd disabled the day before. The ATA gene therapy had taken with Dinh. Lorne was a natural carrier. Disappointment followed realization, and he sighed.

Lorne shed his jacket with a cry of triumph and Radek reached up to grab his arms, intending to explain, but at the flex of muscle under his palms he indulged himself. In a moment of selfishness he drew Lorne down for another kiss, slow and almost chaste, not allowing anything more lascivious. He set his forearm against Lorne's chest, pushed him back carefully, and said, "No."

\---:::---

They stood shoulder to shoulder in Carter's office, Zelenka's hair no more disheveled than usual, Evan's own jacket still unbuttoned, his hands behind his back in parade rest. The jog to the gateroom had taken care of his hard on though the residual effects had made him very aware of Zelenka adjusting himself on the fly. Carter wasn't even looking at him, so he let their conversation flow over him, a flow of supposition and jargon, punctuated by Czech and the word Ancients. From the prof's tone, both were curses. Zelenka said, "No, I say again, we initiated, the machine made a sound that increased in interval, we think, is a bomb, yes? So we disabled. All of this was yesterday. This," he waved a crystal that, to Evan's eye, looked pretty much like every crystal in every door and scattered over half the labs, "was out of the device and on the table for a reason. Who replaced it?"

"Someone being helpful." Carter took the crystal and slid it into her shirt pocket. "Has anyone seen McKay and Sheppard?" Evan figured that until they were ready to be found, they wouldn't be. The radio in his ear hummed and Sheppard's voice said "We're on our way. Rodney's radio is... ah ...malfunctioning." Evan wondered if it'd gotten dropped off a balcony or crunched underfoot. Carter continued, "Then, if all is well, gentlemen, I think we can resume what we were doing, er, or rather, resume what you were ... just ... go." Evan nodded and let Zelenka leave first. He had one chance at this.

\---:::---

Radek pattered down the steps a half step ahead of Lorne, then turned toward the lab area, knowing he wouldn't be able to concentrate but needing to make a pretense, at least.

Lorne called, "Wrong way, doc," and made an elaborate bow toward the transporter.

Radek hesitated, then returned, "You are still willing to teach me?"

"Have you suddenly become able to defend yourself in the field since last week?"

Radek remembered thinking of the outward kick to the knee and of the feel of Lorne's shirt bunched under his palms. He rubbed his hands together. "Of course not, no, but I thought ... ."

Lorne palmed the transport map. "What's the problem?" He stepped out first, as always scanning the hallway before Radek could join him. Radek wondered when he'd begun to notice.

"Major, I kissed you."

Lorne ducked his head, a wry grin barely showing, "Not to argue technicalities, but I kissed you."

Radek hurried to step in front of and stop the other man, "No, you do not understand. I am _zloděj_...a thief. I knew the machine was active and realized that ..." Radek faltered at Lorne's smile. Lorne stepped forward, one careful pace. Radek hurriedly brought his hand up between them, fingers splayed open, touching Lorne. He could feel the texture of the hair on his chest through the thin shirt.

"I spent thirty odd hours playing Atlantis Sims with you, and an hour twice a week for the last half a year teaching you how to properly knee someone in the groin and run away." He didn't move; the muscle movement of his breathing pushed his chest under Radek's hand, a caress in reverse. "I'm saying that you said no, but you kissed me before you did. I'm saying that ... maybe it's time we get on a first name basis."

"_ Jsem ve dibilny osoba_ My name is Radek." Lorne beamed and Radek could not help but respond, giddy as a child in spring. "Or perhaps, we could take up new lessons." He headed back to the transporter, sure that Lorne, that Evan, would follow.

"I was looking forward to writhing and sweaty, actually."

"Ah, I was thinking of tongues."

"Jesus, doc, I'm trying to walk here."

Radek, used to interruptions, continued, "I could teach you Czech. We could insult Rodney together. Or perhaps we shall start with _Ještě jedno, prosím._

"What's it mean?"

"Once more, please." Evan grinned and Radek touched the transporter's map.

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Working title was Yet Another Fucking Ancient Device, but that's a little strong for this fluff, so Green_grrl suggested Spring Training.


End file.
